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A fascinating look at the immortal boys of summer from baseball's golden era. Chock full of baseball anecdotes and personal accounts, this book features the men who helped make baseball America's favorite pastime. This inspiring account will appeal not only to the most ardent baseball fans but to all middle-grade readers. Includes bibliography and index. Black-and-white photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Basic biographies of Cobb, Ruth and Robinson for young fans
For my money there are two figures in baseball history who tower above everybody else, namely Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson.In terms of changing the game you cannot find another player or owner who had an impact as great as the man who made the home run what it is today and the man who broke the color barrier.The only other thing that comes as close to impacting the game would be the introduction of night baseball at which point we are closer to requiring clean baseballs to be used and lowering the mound than we are to what Ruth and Robinson accomplished.

However, in "They Shaped the Game," William Jay Jacobs looks at not only Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson but starts off with Ty Cobb.Certainly Cobb personifies the way baseball was played before Ruth changed the emphasis from speed to power, but I would not make the case that he shaped the game in terms of changing how it was played.Willie Keeler was hitting them "where they ain't" and John McGraw had made using your head when playing baseball a key part of the game before Cobb's time.So I buy the idea of Cobb defining the game, but not shaping it into something new.

Besides, the argument that Cobb, Ruth and Robinson shaped the game is rather implicit in this book, which essentially provides short biographies of the three players.To demonstrate the impact Jacobs would have to focus more on those who followed in their footsteps.However, that gets reduced to Lou Gehrig and Roy Campanella respectively when it comes to Ruth and Robinson.What I was expecting was a more specific look at how Jimmy Foxx, Hack Wilson and Hank Greenberg were following closely on Ruth's heels and how Jackie Robinson opened the door for Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente.

As short biographies of these three players what you will find in "They Shaped the Game" certainly covers the highlights of their careers and will serve as introductory looks at each.I appreciate that Jacobs does not sanitize their lives, touching on Cobb's racism, Ruth's drinking, and the hate hurled at Robinson but leaves it to later biographies to fill in the details (a list of such books is provided in the back).The book is illustrated with black & white photographs of the players and if "The Shaped the Game" does not really prove its thesis, it domes demonstrate that Cobb, Ruth and Robinson all had the key common trait of being fiercely dedicated to what they were doing. ... Read more

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Although it has been more than 75 years since he last laced up his spikes, Ty Cobb remains arguably the greatest player in the long history of baseball.Certainly the Detroit Tigers outfielder remains the most controversial.He hit .367 over 24 seasons (1905-1928), won a dozen batting titles, and was the first man elected to baseball's Hall of Fame.But it was his blowtorch personality that set the "Georgia Peach" apart from all others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Ty Cobb--A Complex Personality
As author Richard Bak points out Ty Cobb was a complex personality.The traumatic death of his father when Tyrus was 19 years old, having been shot by his Ty's mother who maintained she thought he was a burgler entering a window of the house at night would be enough to traumatize anyone, let alone a 19 year old boy.This, in addition to the hazing from teammates, may well have scarred his personality to an extent that he saw the devil in whoever he met.Cobb was determined to succeed when he found himself in such circumstances.It is undoubtedly true that he was a racist.However, most major league players were from the south during this time period and held equally racist attitudes, hall of famers such as Speaker, Hornsby, and Anson included.Author Richard Bak makes a convincing case regarding Al Stump's not knowing Ty Cobb as well as he claimed to know him when writing Cobb's life story, "My Life in Baseball:The True Record".That Cobb was not well liked by many players is undoubtedly true, but he had his sentimental side as well.His two wives divorced him and his children didn't feel close to him and even feared his temper rages.One anecdote:Neal Conway, the head groundskeeper in Detroit, idolized Ty Cobb and saw to it that every one of his needs were met.At the end of the season Conway was invited to join Cobb downtown to accept a gift of Cobb's appreciation.The admirer was given a box the size of which suggested a wrist watch.Cobb had to leave immediately for Georgia.Neal quickly opened the gift and found a tube of Colgate toothpaste.I feel the author presented both sides of Ty Cobb, but I found a glaring error that really is inexcusable.On page 107 the author states "Speaker (Tris) was good enough to join Ty in the Hall of Fame's inaugural class of inductees."Cobb was a charter member of the Hall of Fame along with Ruth, Wagner, Mathewson, and Johnson.These five were elected in 1936.Speaker was elected in 1937.I have to knock off a star for this error.

The Best Book on Ty Cobb Ever.
Richard Bak is one of the best sportwriters working today, and his other books on early 20th-century baseball show his comprehensive knowledge and remarkable insight into the era and its players. (He's even done an illustrated history of Casey Stengel--now, that's deep history.) This book has some wonderful images, and the writing is up to Mr. Bak's standards, which is to say, excellent. Cobb's story is an amazing one, and Mr. Bak tells it well. This book was hard to put down once I started reading it.

It's been rumored that he's been working on a long-awaited book on the Dead Ball era, and I for one can't wait.

A slice of unforgettable sports history
Peach: Ty Cobb In His Time And Ours is a coffee table biography of one of baseball's greatest players, who hit .367 over 24 seasons (1905-1928), won a dozen batting titles, and was the first man elected to baseball's Hall of Fame. Ty Cobb was well known for his intense and changeable personality, rivalries, and petty jealousies; but author Richard Bak reveals a side of Ty Cobb less discussed... a man who came to the aid of down-and-out ballplayers, founded a hospital system and educational foundation which remain successful after a half-century, and who came to terms with his own tarnished legend. Published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Ty Cobb's baseball debut, and featuring over 150 rarely seen black-and-white photographs, Peach: Ty Cobb In His Time And Ours is a slice of unforgettable sports history and a "must-have" for fans of great baseball figures throughout history.
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Customer Reviews (2)

An excellent history of the career of Ty Cobb told in the snippets of the action in various games
When I was reading the foreword to this book, my skeptical nature regarding the contents kicked in. The two sentences

"Unfortunately his ranking and reputation have been unfairly tarnished in recent years by the exaggeration of his persona as a despicable demon so hateful and so driven by a competitive fire that he was everybody's enemy in his lifetime and therefore undeserving to be considered as arguably the game's greatest player. Characterizing Cobb as an agent of the devil and an unworthy citizen has become fashionable among contemporary writers and seems to get worse with each modern treatise by authors who never saw him play and never bothered to examine contemporary writings from the years he played."

This is incorrect; all of the historical evidence indicates that Cobb was hated by nearly all of his teammates on the Detroit Tigers as well as by nearly all of the opposing players. If anything, the stories about Ty Cobb have become more accurate over the years and the emphasis has been more on his accomplishments on the baseball field rather than the ugly incidents due to his violent temper and vindictive nature.
Fortunately, this position is not interjected into the descriptions of Cobb's actions in games. The book is a collection of brief summaries of games and it is clear from the style that they were written at the time. A large number of photographs, many very grainy, are included, which I found very interesting for a lot of them were of players that I had heard of but where I had never seen a picture.
Although it is told in snippets, this is an excellent history of Ty Cobb the player. He was certainly one of the most ferociously competitive players of all time and it can be argued that he was the best player of all time. One of the most telling aspects of this book is how often the quality of his fielding is mentioned, which is rare elsewhere. Other authors concentrate on his batting and base running and almost never mention some of the defensive plays he made.

TyCobb's Scrapbook
It was a refreshing look from a contemporary view of this fasinating era of baseball.Crammed full of interesting pictures.The Author certainly portrays Cobb as a baseball player extroadinaire.This book adornes my coffee table and is great for sneaking in a quick look from the "Deadball area." ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1660 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Signed essays ranging from 500 to 2,500 words, written by subject experts and edited to form a consistent, readable, and straightforward reference. Entries include subject-specific bibliographies and textual cross-references to related essays. ... Read more

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Ty Cobb - The Georgia Peach is the biography of Ty Cobb, who is a Hall of Fame baseball player and is regarded by historians and journalists as the best player of the dead-ball era and as one of the greatest players of all time. Cobb received the most votes of any player on the 1936 inaugural Hall of Fame Ballot. Cobb's legacy as an athlete has sometimes been overshadowed by his surly temperament, severe racism, and aggressive playing style, which was described by the Detroit Free Press as, "daring to the point of dementia." Ty Cobb - The Georgia Peach is highly recommended for those interested in reading more about this important turn of the century baseball player. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 326 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The hairstyles, slang terms, advertising jingles, pop music sensations, and all else described as popular culture is covered in this five-volume reference. Arranged chronologically by decade and by broad topics within each decade, this set focuses solely on the popular culture of the twentieth century, offering more detailed information on trends and fads than any other resource. Major topics include products and brands, toys and games, music and dance, holidays, shopping, sports, movements, and much more. ... Read more

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A biography of the Detroit Tiger star who is considered to be one of the greatest baseball players in history and who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Notable Sports Figures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 4197 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Takes a close look at the people in sports who have captured attention because of success on the playing field, or controversy off the playing field. This work features biographies on more than 600 people from around the world and throughout history who have had an impact not only on their sport, but also on the society and culture of their times. It also includes not only the record-breakers that dominated and changed their sport, but also the controversial figures that made headlines even apart from athletic events. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Journal of Economic Issues, published by Association for Evolutionary Economics on June 1, 2004. The length of the article is 5676 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Thorstein Veblen, Ty Cobb, and the evolution of an institution.(Petco Park)
Author: James Peach
Publication: Journal of Economic Issues (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2004
Publisher: Association for Evolutionary Economics
Volume: 38Issue: 2Page: 326(12)

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Jackie Robinson, Ty Cobb, Russell Branyan, Frank Thomas, Michael Barrett, Joey Hamilton, Kenny Rogers, J. D. Drew, John Rocker, Jerry Manuel, Bill Pulsipher, Haywood Sullivan, Kevin Brown, Ray Knight, Jeff Francoeur, Dixie Walker, Moisés Alou, Ron Blomberg, Corey Patterson, Tom Cheney, Mike Cameron, Micah Owings, Johnny Mize, Adam Wainwright, Marquis Grissom, Erskine Mayer, Chone Figgins, Bucky Dent, Wally Joyner, Brandon Moss, Colby Rasmus, Jonathan Broxton, Todd Jones, Gordon Beckham, Macay Mcbride, Spud Chandler, Bill Terry, Willie Harris, David Ross, Chris Hammond, Cecil Travis, Ron Fairly, Brian Mccann, Jeremy Hermida, Adam Everett, Mack Jones, Wally Moses, Dernell Stenson, Jo-Jo White, Blue Moon Odom, Kyle Davies, Buster Posey, Mike Ivie, Matt Capps, Tony Phillips, John Milner, Jim Bagby, Sr., Dave Beard, Sammy Byrd, Dexter Fowler, Reggie Abercrombie, Mackey Sasser, Whit Wyatt, Kal Daniels, Chuck James, Jody Davis, Nap Rucker, Rondell White, Jake Westbrook, Hal Breeden, Danny Breeden, Robby Hammock, Sean Burroughs, Hugh Casey, Levale Speigner, Jim Hearn, Joe Tipton, Ernest Riles, Blaine Boyer, Phil Douglas, Crash Davis, Jimmy Lavender, Mitchell Boggs, Roy Hartsfield, Rico Washington, Connie Johnson, Desi Relaford, Luke Allen, Joe Haynes, Ken Ray, Ron Cash, Jerome Walton, Clint Sammons, Riccardo Ingram, Garey Ingram, Tyler Flowers, Freddie Burdette, Harry Simpson, Todd Greene, Brent Abernathy, Bryn Smith, John Hester, Coot Veal, Chad Mottola, Matt Childers, Billy Buckner, Tim Drew, Kevin Reimer, Quincy Trouppe, Corey Thurman, Milt Cuyler, Al Wingo, Gerald Perry, Willard Nixon, Elmer Riddle, Rick Camp, Brian Powell, Jason Bulger, Sherry Smith, Brett Campbell, Dave Elder, R. C. Stevens, Tully Sparks, Burke Badenhop, Steven Register, Bill Kennedy, Gene Martin, Bob Trice, Paul ... ... Read more

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Here are the outstanding careers of the four great competitors whose careers spanned almost the entire history of the game. TY COBB: The game's most fiery competitor compiled a .367 1ifetime batting average and a dozen hitting titles during his long career (1905-1928). Ty would do anything to win, once claiming that, "The great American game should be an unrelenting war of nerve." BABE RUTH: He didn't play it the same way as Cobb. The Sultan of Swat did it by hitting a baseball further than anyone before him. He was a wild, flamboyant personality who created legends wherever he went. Some say he single-handedly saved the game after the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 and was baseball's most colorful figure throughout the Golden Age of the 1920's and into the 1930's. JOE DIMAGGIO: While the Babe helped create the first-rate Yankee teams, Joe DiMaggio was the man who continued the tradition in the late 1930's and throughout the '40's. The Yankee Clipper brought into the game a grace and dignity that it had rarely seen before. JACKIE ROBINSON: Had he not been a ballplayer of consummate skills, Jackie Robinson would still have made baseball history. He was the first Black ballplayer in the major leagues, breaking in with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. He was 28 years old then, but still played top-flight baseball for another decade. And he played under a constant pressure that would have made lesser men fold. Jackie made the Hall of Fame as a player, but he was also a Hall of Famer as a man. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from American Decades: Primary Sources, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 835 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.American Decades Primary Sources provides fresh insight into the decade's most important events, people, and issues. Entries representing a diversity of views that provide insight into the seminal issues, themes, movements and events from the decade. Also included are concise contextual information, notes about the author and further resources. American Decades Primary Sources includes chapters on the arts, medicine and health, media, education, world events, religion, government and politics, lifestyles and social trends, law and justice, religion, business and the economy, and sports. Included to provide unique perspectives and a wealth of understanding are first hand accounts that include oral histories, songs, speeches, advertisements, TV, play and movie scripts, letters, laws, legal decisions, newspaper articles, cartoonsand recipes. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Semana, published by Spanish Publications, Inc. on November 17, 1999. The length of the article is 1016 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: 100 años de historia.(jugadores de béisbol; personalidades)(TT: One hundred years of history.)(TA: baseball players; personalities)
Publication: Semana (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 17, 1999
Publisher: Spanish Publications, Inc.
Volume: 6Issue: 350Page: 16

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Troy Soos' entertaining whodunit hits a home run with a perfect blend of mayhem and early baseball lore! He takes you back to 1912 where the days are full of sunshine, players use homemade wooden bats, the legendary Ty Cobb captivates fans, and a young rookie stumbles into a web of danger and deceit. Reporting for his first day as a Boston Red Sox player, Mickey Rawlings discovers a faceless body in the empty stadium. When police name him as their suspect, he knows he must clear his name or give up baseball and his freedom. But nameless foes are trying to silence him with warnings that become increasingly dangerous. A member of the Society for American Baseball Research, Troy Soos creates delightfully authentic ballplayers and places them in believable, colorful settings. With Johnny Heller's expressive narration, Murder at Fenway Park becomes exciting for baseball fans and all who enjoy a good mystery. ... Read more

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Player profiles, stats, photos 1984 ... Read more